Our Mission

To present Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord to business and professional men and to develop Christian business and professional men to carry out the Great Commission. 

"But before all these things, they will lay their hands on you and persecute you. They will hand you over to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors because of my name. This will give you an opportunity to bear witness…….You will even be betrayed by parents, brothers, relatives, and friends. They will kill some of you. You will be hated by everyone because of my name, but not a hair of your head will be lost. By your endurance, gain your lives." Luke 21:12-13, 16-19 CSB https://bible.com/bible/1713/luk.21.19.CSB 

The persecuted are those who identify with Jesus and His teaching. The persecution is for furthering the message of God's love so that the powerful hear and can repent or have heaped upon them even greater condemnation on that day they face our Savior and Judge of all people, Who alone determines the eternal destiny of all humanity whether in heaven or hell. 

Our Savior warns that those who endure these persecutions gain their lives. Later, He warns John that the cowardly will not inherit the kingdom of God (Rev. 21.8). Avoid persecution now or avoid condemnation later. That is the choice the Christian must make in this world that grows increasingly hostile to Jesus and His teaching. The world is cold only because the church has not been hot at making disciples. 

Teaching obedience to everything Jesus commanded to everyone in all nations is the means for building the church, where we are commanded to love one another, thus eliminating the biting and devouring of one another. The church's failure to obey its mission is why we suffer persecution from the non-believer. Persecution then leads to further evangelization, leading to more coming to faith and being discipled, diminishing the persecution from people. The cycle has often been recorded in our history, but now, we must persevere by rebuilding the community of faith through faithful service and witness to Jesus and all He commands. 

Those who diligently work at seeing God's kingdom come and His will be done on earth as it is in heaven while suffering among men for doing so will gain their eternal lives in the kingdom of heaven.

Our Opportunities 

1. CBMC National Men's Conference October 3-5 in St. Louis, MO. Plan to join and meet new brothers who love the Lord and serve Him in the marketplace across America. Mark your calendar busy for those dates, and then register here. Also, plan to join the bus from Michigan to attend this event. For an additional $200, we will ride in comfort with the men from Michigan to St. Louis. A great adventure awaits. I hope you will join us.
2. Join CBMC men for prayer and Bible study every Friday morning 8-9am at Panera Frandor 

CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996 www.lansing.cbmc.com 

MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

June 10, 2024

How Love Can Propel Your Business

By John Johnson 

What would be the primary traits you would consider essential for effective leadership? Would you include qualities such as vision, courage, determination, perseverance, charisma, communication skills, and intelligence? How about character traits such as honesty, integrity, generosity, and humility? 

One quality that stands out to me probably would not appear near the top of many people’s lists: Love. What I am referring to is not what usually comes to mind at first – emotions, romance, self-centered feelings that can disappear as quickly as they appear. No, I am talking about the kind of love that serves to positively shape an organization’s corporate culture.  

By corporate culture, I am referring to beliefs that affect behaviors, determining how a company’s employees and management interact. Research has discovered 73% of employees do not believe their organization’s values. Of the remaining 27%, 77% of those who do believe the organization’s values cannot apply them to their job. This is a serious employee/employer disconnect limiting productivity.  

Love – the kind that strives to put the needs and interests of others first, seeking their best – can make the difference and totally transform an organization’s culture. My book, Love As a Management Practice, explains the motivating power of love at work. Here are some of the benefits: 

• Morale. Treated with love, coworkers experience increased personal job satisfaction.
• Margins. Loved employees act more responsibly, making them better stewards of time and resources, and generate increasingly better results.
• Product/service performance. Loved employees are increasingly motivated to contribute their best efforts to the organization’s mission, which is to benefit customers of products and services.
• Customer satisfaction. Improved job satisfaction results in more satisfactory response to the needs of internal and external customers.
• Return on investment. This is the increasing net effect of a well-treated, productive workforce.

This leads to the greatest benefit of all: Spiritual. Love as a management practice is not a clever phrase or strategy designed by a management consultant. It is anchored in the Bible, aimed for the benefit of others and most importantly, pointing to God – the ultimate source of love. Consider the following: 

Love has an outward focus. In His earthly ministry, Jesus Christ taught that love should be central to everything we do. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, and love your neighbor [coworker/employee]) as yourself” (Matthew 22:36). 

Love puts others first. A modern distortion of love is a focus on ourselves – what we can get out of it. Love as the Bible describes it is not self-seeking. “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude…not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs…. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (1 Corinthians 13:4-13). 

Love is God’s desire for us. Speaking to His disciples before He would be betrayed, given a mock trial and crucified, Jesus gave them direct instructions: “A new command I give to you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). 

© 2024. John Johnson is a businessman, philanthropist, the author of Love As a Management Practice (LAMP), which has also been developed into a curriculum for business and professional leaders. He has been actively involved with CBMC for many years. 

MONDAY MANNA

A service to the business community

A Publication of CBMC International

June 10, 2024

Reflection/Discussion Questions 

1. What is your definition for ‘success’? 

1. Why do you think success can mean so many different things to different people? If we do not fit someone else’s description of success, does that mean we are not successful? Explain your answer. 

1. How do you respond to Jim Elliot’s perspective, “He is no fool who gives up what he cannot keep, to gain what he cannot lose”? What do you think he meant? 

1. The idea is presented that the surest path to success is to give our highest priority to God and His Word, the Bible. Do you agree with this? Why or why not? 

NOTE: If you have a Bible and would like to read more, consider the following passages: Genesis 39:2-5; 1 Samuel 18:13-14; Psalm 119:9-11; Matthew 6:19-21; 2 Timothy 3:16-17 

Challenge for This Week 

Spend some time this week considering and perhaps re-evaluating your views on what success is – and what it is not. It might help to discuss this with a friend or small group of friends, listening to their perspectives as well. As Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” If you have questions about what it means to put God first in your life and work in practical ways, try to find someone who seems to have a better understanding of that and ask about what they have discovered. 

CBMC Central Michigan 4407 W. St. Joe Hwy. Lansing 48917 / 517 481 5996  lansing.cbmc.com